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Decoupling the effects of climate, topography, land use, revegetation, and dam construction on streamflow, sediment, total nitrogen and phosphorus in the Yangtze River Basin
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Xuejun Liu,
Lihua Ma,
Xinping Chen
Science of The Total Environment, Volume: 968, Start page: 178800
Swansea University Author:
Yunqing Xuan
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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.178800
Abstract
Evaluating changes in streamflow, sediment, and nutrient fluxes, as well as quantifying their influencing factors, is crucial for regional water resource protection. While the relationships between major influencing factors and these indicators have been widely studied, the quantitative contribution...
| Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
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| ISSN: | 0048-9697 |
| Published: |
Elsevier BV
2025
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68922 |
| Abstract: |
Evaluating changes in streamflow, sediment, and nutrient fluxes, as well as quantifying their influencing factors, is crucial for regional water resource protection. While the relationships between major influencing factors and these indicators have been widely studied, the quantitative contributions of the separate and interactive effects of these influencing factors have not been fully explored. This study quantitatively evaluated the changing characteristics of streamflow, sediment discharge, total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), as well as the separate and interactive effects of various major influencing factors such as—rainfall, temperature, evapotranspiration (ET), revegetation, dam construction, and land use change—by applying the GeoDetector method to account for their spatial heterogeneity and contributions. Our findings reveal that the influence of these factors has gradually intensified over time, with dam construction and land use change emerging as the most significant contributors to changes in sediment discharge and TN, respectively. Notably, the interactive effects between dam capacity and vegetation cover on streamflow and sediment discharge was twice as strong as their separate impacts, highlighting the effectiveness of integrating dam construction with reforestation to control erosion and sediment transport. Similarly, the interaction of dam capacity and land use change had a 1.5 times greater impact on TN and TP than their separate effects, indicating that reducing fertilizer application at the source and in the meantime implementing direct interception measures are more effective ways to control water pollution. These findings provide a solid foundation for policymakers to develop integrated water management strategies targeting multiple factors simultaneously, that address both water quantity and quality concerns in the Yangtze River Basin and similar regions. |
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| Keywords: |
The Yangtze River Basin; Sediment; Total nitrogen and phosphorus; Geodetector; Attribution analysis |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
This work was supported by China Scholarship Council (No. 201913043) and Hainan University, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U20A2047). The Key Laboratory of Low-carbon Green Agriculture (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs), and the State Cultivation Base of Eco-agriculture for Southwest Mountainous Land (Southwest University). Acknowledgement for the data support from “National Earth System Science Data Center, National Science & Technology Infrastructure of China (http://www.geodata.cn)” and “Resource and Environment Science and Data Center (https://www.resdc.cn/)”. |
| Start Page: |
178800 |